Posts by Miwarre

  • Forum site: issue with the new post editor

    Since the update of the forum site, the post editor has an issue. NOTE: this applies to the full-page post editor, the one used to create new post or to add replies in a separate window/tab, NOT to the in-place editor open when replying on the same page.


    Steps:


    1) In a new paragraph, format some text as bold, italics (and possibly other formats too);


    2) Add some more text in the same paragraph after the formatted part;


    3) With the cursor at the end of the paragraph or at any other point of it of your choice, press [Enter] to add a new line after the paragraph or to split it in two parts.


    Expected result:


    A new line is added after the paragraph or it is split at the cursor point.


    Actual result:


    The paragraph is split right after the format text part, regardless of the cursor position.


    This makes impossible to add new lines after a paragraph which contains formatted text or to split it at any other point (in fact to be able to create this very post, I had to add all the bold formats after having written the whole post).

  • Rising World Should Have Fantasy Aspects

    Quote from supershanks

    Maybe further down the line we might be able to mod the game and add our own elemaents to create different biomes, maybe a medieval, RPG whatever theme.
    Maybe there's a market for Red to launch addons periodically, I'd be happy to see him gain a bit more revenue from his project. :)

    I think we have hints enough to suppose modding /add-ons are definitely in the queue. Possibly the announced switch to Java API for scripting is already a step in this direction.


    'Official' or third-party add-ons are a great way to lengthen the commercial life of a product and to widen the community around it. I hope JIW will give a thought to this (if they didn't already ;) ).

    Quote from george1979k

    A bit of fantasy wont kill us.Just a bit.

    Agreed, it wont kill us.


    But I would prefer it to be remain optional in some way. As I said above, a whole, self-consistent, coherent, working fantasy world could be fine (it would not be easy to design at all, but it can be fine); fantasy elements strung together just because they are trendy would be meaningless and boring (to me at least).

  • Thoughts about money in RW...

    DISCLAIMER:
    What follows is simply a collection of doubts, questions, hints without any organic sense (yet?). The intention is to provoke a discussion about the meaning and the implications of introducing a monetary system in RW.


    It has been stimulated by the recent scripts which add some kind of money management to RW. If it sounds like I am occasionally criticising them, I apologise in advance; this is not my intention at all, as I owe to them the push to think about these matters in the first place.


    So, what money means, could mean, should mean in a context like RW? I assume different players will have different perspective, and I think sharing them would be useful. Some questions follow trying to elicit some answers, new questions, and also criticisms.


    1) What a money system could make possible which is currently not possible in RW or at least easier which is currently hard?


    2) Does a money system necessarily implies an economy? This question may seem vague, and probably is; it is tied to the previous, though: would a money system stir something (some activity, some relationship, something) which would be impossible or very hard to stir without? Caveat: not in general, but in the RW context as it is now and/or as we can suppose it will evolve.


    3) Does an economy necessarily implies a separate, abstract, money system? would be barter not enough? Again, not in general, but in the RW context.


    4) Can a money system / economy ignore social / community expenses / incomes and still make sense?


    5) Shall a money system / economy be tied to a specific economic theory (say, capitalism or socialism) or this should be left to the 'rulers' (say, server admins) to decide depending on which policies they choose to implement or enforce? (In fact, the systems I have seen implemented so far in RW scripts, tend to be rather on the socialist side or at least of a State capitalism, which makes 4) even more important).


    6) CAN it be general enough to leave the door open to such a diversity?


    7) This is rather specific and I am trying to be provocative here! Is a "free market" possible in a context like RW? (as it should be quite evident, "free market" is largely a myth in any economic context of decent complexity. See also the note at the end of 5) ).


    8 ) This is very specific and might be a study case for 5), 6) and 7): I have seen in several occasions the so-called "law of supply and demand" (or however it is worded in English) referred to. Now, this law is also largely a myth or, at least, it has some value only in small and rather restricted and isolated economic contexts. of which RW might be an example. How should a monetary / economic system deal with it? Should it enforce it or should it leave to the "free market invisible hand", if it can exist?


    I think I have put enough meat on the grill by now. Awaiting your reactions... M.

  • Script Land protection error

    Maybe I am paranoid, but:


    1) Groups and listener are not "files" but folders and have to be created as such; can you confirm that you have a folder named listener and a file playerListener.Lua inside that folder?


    2) The code expects a folder named listener, with a lower case initial, not Listener with an upper case initial; it depends upon the OS under which the server is running, but file name matching can be case-sensitive.

  • mental sanity

    Well, I think I like the idea; possibly I would not call it "mental sanity", but I am sure some geek-ish stat name can be found!

  • Rising World Should Have Fantasy Aspects

    Welcome on board @Jester Jay!


    As you hint yourself, most of these aspects/suggestions have already been discussed and there are diverse opinions on them.


    To be honest me too, I'm basically against Fantasy elements, not per se, but rather because they usually make little sense, from the perspective of a consistent, persistent, working world. Magic for instance; it is obviously unrealistic; but look at how the greatest fantasy authors -- Tolkien or Le Guin, just to make some name -- manage to insert magic in a context which makes sense and in which magic itself makes sense.


    There are lots and lots of bad fantasy novels out there (in fact, the very great majority is simply laughable, poorly written and even poorer conceived) and lots of games poorly conceived in which fantasy elements are added just for 'fun' (fun? it is simply a boring, n-th iteration of boilerplate elements, to me), to make picturesque or, worse, because the authors could not think anything better suited and more original just for laziness.


    Let me hope for Rising World a better future, with elements introduced not simply to follow the conventions of this or that genre, but because they stick together, work together and make sense together. Just to make an example: it seems to me that very little thought is usually given at how all these suggestions, hostile elements, character progression, and technology progression (which however has other inherent flaws, IMHO) would interact one with another.


    As I said elsewhere, reality -- the "real world reality" -- is the more readily available metre and example of such a consistency. But, if a totally fantastic, divergent, distopic and/or utopic world could be conceived, which makes sense, it would be fine for me.


    Addendum I: I also hope that RW would not rely too much on quick reflexes and aim; there are already lots of shooters out there; I would love if in RW planning and decisions would have greater mid-to-long-term effects. More strategy (not simply from a military point of view, but primarily economic, environmental, sustainability, coop, ... strategy) and less adrenaline.


    Addendum II: to make another example of my main point, for the much I love building in RW, I would welcome more sense in it: building should have a reason and bring effects. It might be costs and revenues, it might be more possibilities for a group of players, it might be a lot of different things, but having building inserted in a chain of causes and effects would make it much more consistent, more sensible.

  • Any character can be reliably expected NOT to appear in player names?

    I need to insert an the DB of a script a row representing a dummy player (for global management purposes) with its own name and I would like to be sure such a name cannot occur for 'real' players.


    Is there any character which can be expect NOT to appear in any player name? Can code points from U+00A6 to U+00FF (Latin-1 Supplement range) appear in player names?

  • Info for server

    The file screenlog.0 in the main server directory should contains tracks of every login and logout, among tons and tons of other stuff. It can be read with any text editor


    Also the DB contains tracks of players, but it requires specialized software to be viewed.

  • Script Land protection error

    Or it is not in the right place; it should be in /mnt/scripts/AreaProtection 2.0/listener/playerListener.lua


    Looking at the path, though: is it a remote directory mounted locally? If it is, I would try copying the whole scripts/AreaProtection 2.0 directory locally into your RW scripts directory and see if this improves the matter.

  • Forum update (4.1)

    Quote from Winddbourne

    All I can say is that I hope and pray that Rising World NEVER ports over to Java. [...] It is, unfortunately, very tricky to get Java to do a lot of basic gaming tasks efficiently

    I was 'born' as a programmer when C++ had yet to come, C was the default and it was still customary to code routines in assembly when efficiency was a top concern. So, I can understand @Winddbourne concerns. Still, much water has flown under those bridges and Java can nowadays be considered a full-fledged programming language. It has some shortcomings, but any language has its own. Rising World is entirely written in Java, as Wurm Unlimited is and, I assume, several other games or large scale programmes I cannot think of on the spot.


    On the other hand, no matter of the language either the core or the API or both are written in, a plug-in/add-on/mod API will almost inevitably face some complexities and 'rough edges', as it has to interface with the core somewhat 'from outside', with inevitable duplications of tasks and of code and other inefficiencies, not to mention that it can only be assigned a portion of the execution time, without stealing too much from the core threads. So, implementing an entire new 'sub-game' via a scripting API will always raise efficiency concerns, regardless of the implementation language.

  • Forum update (4.1)

    Quote from red51

    Right now we're mainly working on the Plugin API (as well as on a documentation, which consumes most of the time),

    Well, documentation is always a pain in the neck to produce and there is never enough of it! Nevertheless, at this stage, some Javadoc would already be great!

  • Key Config help

    Sorry, it was perhaps unclear: by type of keyboard, I meant which layout (US, GB, French, German, Spanish, ...), not which brand.


    Also, which OS?


    Key positions on the keyboard vary across different keyboard layouts and different OS interact differently with these positions; detecting which key is pressed (and sometime that a key is pressed at all) is not always reliable for all keys across all keyboard layouts and across all OS.

  • Key Config help

    Which type of keyboard do you have?


    Have you tried other keys, for instance using for piece movement the WASD keys originally used for character movement?

  • Animal Pens, and Animal Husbandry

    Quote from ArcaneDesmond

    Quote from Miwarre: “Sorry for the non-Eglish native speaking perspective: BBQ? British Broadcasting Quorporation?”


    So let me explain we American grill our food in on either charcoal, gas or on occasion over a campfire. We call this process Barbeque or BBQ for short. Another way it can be used is barbeque chicken is cooked on a grill but has barbeque sauce brushed upon it. Now I'm not writing this out of sarcasm but some cultures pretty much don't know what BBQ is...


    Really? You may be surprised to learn that in Italy we call this very process... barbecue! Amazing, isn't it? No Italian word, possibly because it no longer really belongs to the peninsular cooking tradition (and it has been re-imported recently).


    The original barabicu cooking has some similitude with the Sardinian way of cooking the young pig under ground. Also, meat was a luxury item until not much long ago and meals involving it usually had only a small quantity of meat treated in much more complex ways. Grilling (which is partially different) is more common, also for fish, given the amount of coasts Italy has.


    All of this is fine and funny, still it does not make obvious what "BBQ" is; it looks like an acronim, whence my attempt at an explanation...


    Quote from ArcaneDesmond

    yeah even Corporation was spelled completely wrong.


    Really no linguistic sense of humour? Never played with words? Never made one, to fulfil a need or just for fun? Never thought of -- God forbid! -- creating a language?